Landmark 2016

Greetings

to all alumni

ast year marked 170 years of land-

based study at Cirencester. The

newly planted heritage orchard of

apples and pears are preparing their first

blossom at Harnhill Manor Farm, the steel

barley sculpture next to the Bathurst Wing

has ‘ripened’ to a lovely rusty brown, and

the photos of HRH The Prince of Wales

at Convocation, in his 30th year as our

President, are on the wall.

Landmark

replete with other events and coverage

of what was a very good year; it seems

to need a bigger edition each year!

And so to 2016. Every year seems

full of anniversaries to be marked, but

everyone acknowledges that a 90th

birthday is special. We celebrated the

occasion for our Patron, Her Majesty

The Queen, with a Patron’s Lunch for

Cirencester. Our main drive doubled as

the Mall in London, the playing fields on

either side as the royal parks, and the

whole a site for a tremendous outdoor

party. The RAU has enjoyed royal

patronage throughout its now 171 years,

a mark not least of the value placed on

agriculture and land management in

this increasingly crowded island, where

food production and environmental

management go hand in hand. The skills,

together with the social responsibility, are

globally as well as nationally relevant.

Here at the RAU, there are two particular

areas which are worthy of special

mention. Enterprise and entrepreneurship,

which has long been a hallmark of

RAU students and graduates, is more

vibrant than ever before. With the steady

growth of support through the student

Entrepreneurs Society, and the continued

success of our Grand Idea business

competition, we are becoming increasingly

recognised as leading the way for student

entrepreneurship in UK higher education.

Then there is sustainability. For the

RAU as a land-based institution, the

concept has to be embedded. It was

such embedding, in areas such as the

curriculum as well as the more measurable

carbon footprint and energy usage, that

was recognised when the RAU was

named as The Guardian University

Awards 2016 winner for sustainability in

March. We wear that one with pride.

Of course, sustainability is not just about

the environment. As a university, it is

also about financial sustainability, and

as a business, it is about growth and

investment. One area of growth is the

increase of technology within farming.

Indeed, agritech is one of the Government’s

‘eight great’ technologies that will pull the

UK into renewed prosperity. It is relevant to

remember that when the Royal Agricultural

College was founded (in 1845), it was,

in part, to apply the huge scientific and

technological advances of the Victorian

era to the land-based sector. In 2016,

there are similarly huge advances being

made, and it is beholden on the RAU

to be part of that, as it was 171 years

ago. Thus the links we have made with

the Bomford Trust, who have sponsored

academic posts, and the GFirst LEP (Local

Enterprise Partnership) are important.

The latter is bringing some £3m of funding

for investment in agritech start-up facilities

at Harnhill Manor Farm, and on the main

campus, through the Farm491 initiative.

Hopefully, there is a direct connection

between our work on enterprise and

innovation, and these new developments.

To this end, new teaching labs are planned

to sit alongside the incubation facilities. Yet

all of this takes capital; and while funds

are being realised within the University,

and through generous donations from

the Elizabeth Creak Charitable Trust and

our philanthropic alumni through our

Cirencester Fund, it remains a challenge.

As recent reports in the national press

have identified, successful Oxbridge

universities rely heavily on their successful

alumni to raise the large capital sums

needed to remain competitive. Please

do not hesitate to get in touch!

The strength of an institution lies in its

students, its staff, and its alumni; the ‘trick’

is to provide the environment in which all

can prosper. Cirencester has done this

very well and will continue to do so, new

laboratories and teaching facilities and

all. 2016, despite all the challenges, is

going well; and with the current student

body, the staff – both academic and

support, and a new Vice-Chancellor,

Professor Joanna Price, starting in

September, the future looks even better.

And of course, there are the alumni.

Professor Chris Gaskell

Vice-Chancellor, CBE